Bob's Burgers
Bob's Burgers is an American animated sitcom created by Loren Bouchard for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series centers on the Belchers—parents Bob and Linda, and their children Tina, Gene, and Louise—who run a hamburger restaurant. The family was conceived by Bouchard after developing Home Movies. Since its debut on January 9, 2011, the series has broadcast 72 episodes. While reviews for the first season were mixed, subsequent reviews have been positive. The series premiere, "Human Flesh", drew in 9.38 million viewers, making it the highest-rated series premiere of the season and also finished 9th in the ratings for the week it aired.12 On October 16, 2012, Fox renewed Bob's Burgers for a fourth season consisting of 22 episodes. The series started airing past aired episodes in syndication on Cartoon Network's late night adult programming block Adult Swim on June 23, 2013.3 On September 26, 2013, Fox renewed the series for a fifth season ordering 22 additional episodes.4 A comic book series based on the show, published by Dynamite Entertainment, began in September 2014,5 and a soundtrack album is planned for a future release.6 In 2013, TV Guide ranked Bob's Burgers as one of the top 60 Greatest TV Cartoons of All Time.7 The series has been nominated for several awards, including the Emmy Award for Outstanding Animated Program in 2012 and 2013, before it won the award in 2014. Contents hide * 1 Plot * 2 Characters * 3 Production ** 3.1 Proof of concept ** 3.2 Development ** 3.3 Executive producers ** 3.4 Writing ** 3.5 Voice cast * 4 Hallmarks ** 4.1 Opening sequence ** 4.2 Credits sequence ** 4.3 Daily special * 5 Home media * 6 Reception and achievements ** 6.1 Success ** 6.2 Awards and nominations ** 6.3 Ratings * 7 Syndication * 8 Episodes * 9 In popular culture * 10 References * 11 External links Plotedit Main article: List of Bob's Burgers episodes The show centers on the Belcher family who run a hamburger restaurant on Ocean Avenue in an unnamed seaside community (informally known as "Seymour's Bay" among the show's writing staff).8 Series creatorLoren Bouchard commented in a 2012 interview that the show's location was an indeterminate Northeastern United States shore town.9 Entertainment writers have later described the show as being set in New Jersey, citing the season three episode "It Snakes a Village".10 The restaurant is located in a two-floor building sandwiched between a funeral home and a building where tenants come and go on a regular basis, and the Belcher family lives in the apartment directly above the restaurant. Bob's Burgers is a struggling restaurant situated on a commercial street that relies heavily on traffic from the local amusement park, Wonder Wharf, which is located on a pier at the end of Ocean Avenue and owned by Calvin Fischoeder, an eccentric millionaire who also owns many buildings in the town, including the one where Bob's Burgers and the Belchers' home is located. Success is not easy, as Bob must compete with several other eateries for business. His biggest rival is Jimmy Pesto's Pizzeria, the owner of which Bob particularly dislikes. Bob's restaurant also has seen its fair share of bad luck. For example, in the show's open, Bob's Burgers falls victim to a fire, an infestation of vermin, and a utility pole that falls over and crashes into the building. In spite of all this, Bob does have a loyal but small group of regular customers including Mort, the owner of the funeral home, and Teddy Francisco, the local handyman. Charactersedit Main article: List of Bob's Burgers characters Productionedit The series initial look of the characters, including scrapped character, Daniel Belcher The current look of the characters, including Tina Belcher, who replaced Daniel Belcher Creator Loren Bouchard said Bob's Burgers came about because Fox's animation brand centers mostly on family, but he also wanted to dabble in workplace comedy.11 The show has generally been viewed as a spiritual successor to King of the Hill, which carried less emphasis on shock comedy and focused more on character driven humor; Bob's Burgers executive producer Jim Dauterive worked on "King" for nearly its entire run.12 Proof of conceptedit Before the show was aired, the team created a proof of concept so Fox Broadcasting Company knew what to expect if they bought the show. Jay Howell had his art featured in a test animation based on Bob forgetting about his and Linda's wedding anniversary. The actual show has never used a word that needed to be censored by the network.13 The proof of concept eventually turned into the pilot episode. It had the same synopsis as the official pilot (aired in 2011) but had both cosmetic and substantial differences. These included: * Cruder animation * Character models having longer noses * Bob wears a white tank top/singlet (in the series he wears a white T-shirt) * The eldest child is male, and called Daniel. In the broadcast pilot, Tina's dialogue is the same as Daniel's and the voice characterization by Dan Mintz is the same, despite being changed to a female character. * The intro had slower animation due to budget * Extra dialogue and plot elements, expanding the running time from thirteen and a half minutes to twenty-one and a half minutes. * A scene where the community reacts badly to the restaurant's health safety alert, and Bob confronts Hugo about it. * A denouement wrapping up certain plot elements. The original pilot can be seen on the DVD release of the first season, released on April 17, 2012.